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Memorable Quotes: Ian Penumbra
"Don't go changing the subject, my dear," the man counters, pushing himself to his feet. He bends over, plucking the hat off the ground with his left hand. "How is it that when it comes to the information I want about the future, all you can offer are vague blatherings with no detail, but you nail my name spot-on without so much as a proper introduction?" He straightens, about to bend to grab his cane, when his right hand brushes the vicinity of his back pants pocket. His *empty* pants pocket. He doesn't say anything ... not at first. Instead, he completes his acquisition of the cane, stands straight, and then flings the hat aside before holding the cane at both ends in his hands and throwing himself at Ora, aiming to press her into the pillows, pinning her with the cane and his weight so she can't escape. "Where is it?" he growls. Ora's pale brows, left to their natural hue, rise at his accusations before his motion toward the pants pocket widens her eyes. A blue that is nearly black, violet that shares with silver...for once, a gaze that cannot even decide upon its color converges to a point of intensity that is nearly palpable in comparison to its vagaries before. She is already moving to push herself up, an explanation about to spill from her lips, before his violence wrings a soft gasp from her, one arm pinned between them when she had thrown it up in an attempt to ward his cane aside, the other lost behind her amongst the pillows. "Ian, please! There...there is no need for this..." "No?" he asks, leaning close to her face, keeping his weight on her. "Maybe I should search you. Not exactly a gentlemanly approach, I agree, but I am not a gentleman who takes lightly to robbery. I may freely pay you to spout gibberish about the future. I may freely pay you to lie with me. But I will not be made a victim of unwilling theft. Not by you. Not by anyone." Penumbra's voice is a sibilant whisper when he concludes: "Where is it? No obfuscations. No lies. No half-hearted excuses. Just tell me where it is and we may proceed to the topic of compensation - yours and mine." ---- "I actually have this little keepsake around to remind myself just how short life can be," Ian says, lifting the lid and setting it aside before drawing out the object formerly confined within the box: A glass jar containing the mummified head of what appears to be a black-haired Qua male. He sets the jar on the desk, then returns the lid to the box before turning his attention back to Ora. "What would you like to see first? Amusements? Oddities? Mysteries? Or the bridge?" Ora's brows rise, and she actually sweeps her hair aside with a lift of her hand to peer more closely at the jar and its contents, unperturbed by the grisly sight. "Refreshing," she repeats herself, this time with a definite tone of amusement and interest. "To need the antithesis of life to remind yourself that you are living. First? You shall tell me the tale of this artifact. Then, you can show me the rest in alphabetical order." "Well, I keep it around as a reminder, yes, but I also find that the Chief here is my most trusted and loyal confidant, one who will hear all my concerns and never, ever, ever stab me in the back. No arms, you see," Ian grins. Then he walks around his desk and settles into his chair. "The Chief's tale isn't a very happy one. I'm not even sure it's entirely true. But it's a good one, I'll grant that much. I got him from an Odarite merchant last year." "Truly?" Ora murmurs, eye-to-eye with the chief now through the murky translucence of the preserving liquid. "I must work my way into his good graces then." "He knows you as well as I do, so you've got nothing to worry about," Ian replies, smirking. "He thought making you my consigliere was a fine idea." He sighs. "Anyway, his story. His real name, the Odarite told me, was Jon Falling Bear. He was a Qua chieftain back during the bad old days, around the turn of the 29th Century, when the Kretonians were still lording it over the cosmos. Jon Falling Bear was a Mystic sympathizer. He gave them shelter and aid. He led Qua warriors against Centauran and Kretonian extermination squads. A real hero." He leans forward, resting a hand atop the jar. "Enemies, he had no problem finding. Trouble is, he did a piss-poor job of picking his friends. One of his top men, William Hawk, took a pretty practical view of things. The Kretonians owned everything. It was just a matter of time before the Centaurans dealt with the Mystics. No one had a clue the Nall or their friends were going to rise up and do some exterminating of their own. So, Hawk went to the Kretonians with a deal: They spare his life, give him some cushy lackey job like a Centauran, and he'd give them Jon Falling Bear. They took the deal. Hawk sold his buddy out. The Kretonians took Falling Bear's head as a souvenir. They had respect for him. They didn't keep any of William Hawk. They let the Centaurans slurp up his remains. Even the Krets had some standards about backstabbers." He takes his hand off the jar, lacing his fingers together on the desktop. "The Odarites found his head in the wreckage of one of the old Kret warships on the Line of Pain. Now, he's here." ---- "That's right, ladies and gentlemen," the man in the dark suit and red carnation proclaims from the bottom of the ramp as Urfkgar gets within earshot. "Penumbra's Roaming Cavalcade of Mysteries. We've gathered the strange and unusual from one end of the Orion Arm to the other ... and beyond! So, step right up, climb aboard, don't be bashful! Admission's free, although we do charge for liquid refreshments and comestibles! Tips are, as always, appreciated! And the rumors are true! Yes, true! Penumbra's Roaming Cavalcade of Mysteries *is* hiring!" He gestures up the ramp. "Step right up!" ---- A sip from his glass, then Penumbra gets up and walks to the window again. "Find a way to contact the developer on Waldheim, Samantha. Determine the amount they'd consider fair to proceed with development *and* leave you alone. Then get back to me." Sage Evesviia seems amused by this direction for some reason and looks to Samantha for her response. There's a long silence after that, before the sound of Sam's chair scraping backward announces her movement and she stands up. "And if I don't or can't?" she asks. "If you don't or can't, that makes you a threat to my business and my personnel," Penumbra responds. "It's one thing to come work for me and start a new life without being hunted. But people who are actively hunted mean a major liability for me. I don't like liabilities, especially if they can be remedied one way or another to everyone's edification." category:OtherSpace: New Journeys Memorable Quotations